A select method can return a persistent field (or a collection thereof) of a related ENTITY bean. A finder method can return only a local or remote interface (or a collection of INTERFACES).

Because it is not exposed in any of the local or remote interfaces, a select method cannot be INVOKED by a client. It can be invoked only by the methods implemented WITHIN the entity bean class. A select method is USUALLY invoked by either a business or a home method.

A select method is defined in the entity bean class. For bean-managed persistence, a finder method is defined in the entity bean class, but for container-managed persistence it is not.

A select method can return a persistent field (or a collection thereof) of a related entity bean. A finder method can return only a local or remote interface (or a collection of interfaces).

Because it is not exposed in any of the local or remote interfaces, a select method cannot be invoked by a client. It can be invoked only by the methods implemented within the entity bean class. A select method is usually invoked by either a business or a home method.

A select method is defined in the entity bean class. For bean-managed persistence, a finder method is defined in the entity bean class, but for container-managed persistence it is not.